Man jailed for deliberately lighting bushfires at Nowa Nowa in East

Gippsland
ABC Gippsland / By Kellie Lazzaro
Posted Mon 27 Jul 2020 at 2:22pm , updated Mon 27 Jul 2020 at 4:17pm

A repeat arsonist has been sentenced to three years in jail for deliberately lighting eight bushfires in East
Gippsland during the summer of 2019.

Andrew Morgan, 32, formerly of Orbost, was sleeping Key points:

rough on a mattress on top of a picnic table at the
Andrew Morgan, 32, has been sentenced to
Nowa Nowa Recreation Reserve when he lit the eight
fires on January 2 and 3, 2019. three years' jail for arson
Morgan said he lit eight fires at Nowa Nowa
The Victorian County Court heard Morgan told police in January to keep warm and to clear the
he lit the fires to stay warm and to clear the bush
bush
along the river.
Morgan was homeless at the time, and
One of the fires grew to 50 metres in size, while two
suffers from drug-induced mental health
others grew to half a hectare and water bombing problems
helicopters were called to respond.

Morgan pleaded guilty to eight counts of intentionally causing a bushfire.

"The fires were made more serious by the sheer number of fires you separately lit, the terrain in which you
lit them, and the difficulty of access firefighters had to extinguish them," Judge Gregory Lyon said.

Morgan was sentenced as a serious arson offender as he had been convicted of similar offences twice
before.

Arsonist suffers schizophrenia, court told

At 3:00pm on January 2, 2019, a family fishing by the river saw four different spot fires and called police.

"In all, you lit seven fires on the afternoon of January 2, and this required a response from CFA trucks and
tankers," Judge Lyon said.

"Because of the difficulty in reaching the fires, further resources from police, the Department of
Environment … helicopters, waterbombing aircraft, and a bulldozer were deployed."

The fires were brought under control by 9:30pm.

The court heard Morgan lit another fire on Browns Road in Nowa Nowa the following day.
"An officer attended and saw you sitting on a log in the middle of the fire and you told the officer that
you'd lit the fire the previous night because you were cold and that the fire was doing a great job," Judge
Lyon said.

"You stated that you lit the fires the previous day to clean up the bush."

The court was told Morgan started taking methylamphetamines at the age of 25 and developed
psychotic symptoms leading to a diagnosis of schizophrenia.

He was admitted to psychiatric wards five times between 2012 and 2015.

The court heard in December 2015 Morgan was convicted for illegally lighting 12 separate fires.

In January 2017, he was convicted in the Bairnsdale Magistrates Court of criminal damage by fire and
placed on a community corrections order.

"Your offending on this occasion by the lighting of multiple fires potentially put
people's safety and perhaps even lives at risk," Judge Lyon said.

Morgan has already served 571 days in custody and must serve at least two years in prison before being
eligible for parole.